


Paint me a picture

by RedJumper



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Kate Lives, Kate does illustrations for McGees book, Tony's more insecure in this than I usually write him so eh, set season 3 but without Ziva
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25017097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedJumper/pseuds/RedJumper
Summary: Tim writes, Kate draws and Tony doesn't have a clue.
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo & Timothy McGee
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Paint me a picture

**Author's Note:**

> this was my note in my doc for this and well it sums it up: Tim wrote Kate draw I don't know graphic novel is it's a au if it technically could've happen if Kate lived.
> 
> set s3/s4 timewise - like its before twisted sister but after twilight. kate lives so ziva never joins the team. 
> 
> i got the idea for this form a mcGiva fic, just the idea that soemone oon the team draws stuff my mcgee books.
> 
> dont own characters.
> 
> i was originally going to change the title but honesly it doesnt sound that bad now.
> 
> this was not meant to be this long

He sneaks up behind Kate, who is focused on her sketchbook so she doesn't hear him.

“That's a pretty good drawing of Gibbs there, Katie.” And as expected she slaps the sketchbook close and pushes him away. 

“Get away from my desk Tony and stop looking at my stuff.”

He's not as predictable as her so Kate doesn’t realise he's grabbed her sketchbook until he's back behind the safety of his own desk. He skims through it and comes across what looks like plans for a book cover.

“I didn’t know you designed book covers, Kate.”

“ I don't.” She realises he has the book. “Tony give that back, it’s private.”

“Is it? Because it looks like McGee’s handwriting is in here.” and it is definitely Tim’s neat cursive that made the notes next to one of her sketches. “What’s in here that McGeek can look at but not me.” He flicks through a couple of more pages, one a sketch of ducky but without glasses and then a more blown up sketch of a one of the sketches - a cover for a L.J Tibbs book. He recognises the name but he doesn't know where from. “What's L.J TIbbs?”

It's at this point when Tim walks in and freezes right there at the entrance of the bullpen. “How do you know about that?”

“The most important question is why do you know what's in Kate's sketchbook? And how did you get to see it, much less write in it?”

“Tony leave him alone.”

“But McGoo here has been hiding his artistic talents from us.” More likely just Tony but he’s not letting Tim and worse Kate know he hates being left out like this.

“I don’t think I’ve drawn anything good since that hand turkey in 1st grade. Everything in the sketchbook is Kate’s” Tim unfreezes from his position and starts walking towards his desk. “L.J Tibbs is my creation though.” And because Tony is in (only slight) shock - how did he forget the whole author thing he and Kate found out when they invaded Tim’s apartment - Tim manages to grab Kate's sketchbook out of his hand. Tim throws it back over to Kate and they both go back to work like everything is normal. Everything is not normal, nothing is normal. Kate is doing cover plans and illustrations for a book Tony forgot Tim even wrote.

Both Tim and Kate are tapping away on their keyboards and Tony just keeps staring back and forth between them. He would look up the whole ‘L.J Tibbs’ thing - and really if you’re an author aren’t you meant to be creative and not just change a letter in your boss’s last name - but there's no way Tim published a book without him knowing. Tim could write a book and not inform Tony but the publishing and selling of said book Tony would know about.

* * *

It's only later on that he manages to trap Tim in the break room. He doesn't know how much of a trap it can be classed as since 1) Tim was in there first and 2) Quinn from Cold Cases is also sitting at one table with a paper and coffee. However he does get Tim to not retreat back to his desk with the promise of a free chocolate bar.

“It’s that not kind of an act if you’re also getting yourself a free one.”

“So are you saying you don’t want the free candy, Probie?”

Tim just lets go of a sigh and holds out his hand. Perfect. Instead of handing Tim the chocolate bar, Tony grabs his wrist and drags him out of the break room - away from the ears of Quinn - to the end of one of the many hallways on the opposite side of the floor from the squadroom. 

“Hey, DiNozzo, you know you can’t kill me on government property - Gibbs will hate you for all the paperwork that would leave him with.” It's a funny quip, but Tim’s voice also cracks halfway through it so it’s not that effective. Tony looks around the hallway and sees that no one closeby - perfect. He needs Tim to willingly volunteer the information until he can tease him in front of others - at least for something Kate is also involved in. He’s still holding Tim’s wrist so he tugs at it until Tim is standing right in front of Tony and has to face him.

“Explain.”

“Explain what, Tony? You're the one that ford me over here.”

“You and Kate, explain.”

“If this about rule 12, we aren’t breaking it. Me and Kate aren’t dating.”

“Well duh, Probie, of course you aren’t. Kate is way, way out of your league.”

“She’s more far out of yours.” And honestly newbie geeks shouldn’t be able to smirk and give quips to their senior field agents - or more Tim shouldn’t be able to smirk and give quips to Tony. Don't get him wrong, he doesn't want to date Kate. Thinks she’s hot? Yeah of course. Date her? Nope, too uptight for him. But his pride is at stake, and there's no way in hell he is going to let  _ McGeek _ be the one that destroys it.

“Oh really, cause she tried to sleep with me in Paraguay.” Kate staying with him while he had the plague would be a better argument but they all have a rule: Don’t talk about that month (the plague and Ari trying to kill them already required too many psych evals for them all already).

“Remember how me and Kate weren’t glad to see you when you came back to work after  _ the thing _ .” Tim even grimaces when he says ‘ _ thing _ ’. It doesn’t always click in Tony’s mind that Tim is young - not that anyone on the team is old - but Tim has barely three years of experience in law enforcement. All of them had a career before NCIS but Tim didn't. Tony and Kate got experience by being a cop or secret service, Gibbs in the marines. But Tim went straight in at the deep end. They may not have experienced a medieval disease but all three had been surrounded by crime or at least danger, for God’s sakes Tony was probably already a detective when Tim was getting his college degree. That month almost killed both him and Kate but Tony thinks it was probably Tim that was the most scared.

“You guys didn't even say ‘Hi.’. I was gone for two weeks and all I got was a ‘Should’ve stayed home, DiNozzo.’ from Gibbs.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise Probie. It’s not like you and Kate didn’t visit me.” They both had  excessively . Morrow had made Gibbs only work on cold cases for those two weeks so as soon as it turned 6pm, Tony either had an Abby, a Tim or a Kate in his apartment. They had tried to mix up who came when but Tony even in post-plague haze had figured it out: no one wanted him to be alone and he also didn’t want to be alone. Even in the day he had visits from Ducky, sometimes also Gibbs, hell one time Gerald even checked in on him. “Why are you bringing up the past though?” Tony asks because as much as Tim rambles, it does usually lead somewhere and have some sorta point.

“Oh, yeah,” Tim lifts his hand to rub at the back of his neck and the tips of his ears turn red. “See about that, I may have - I may have maybe - maybe I said.”

“McGee, spit it out.” 

“I may have told her how you told everyone in the office about Paraguay and that's why she was annoyed at you.” He should be annoyed at Tim but really Kate would’ve found out at some point and it was better her finding out from the sweet Probie than it was her finding out from Tony himself. “I think she called you a massive ass or something.” 

“Why were you annoyed at me? I didn’t tell people you tried to sleep with me.” And really the risk of someone overhearing that and getting the wrong idea was so worth it because Tim’s entire face becomes a faint red. Looks like Tony has found the ultimate trigger to Tim’s embarrassment and seriously he is going to use that for forever now. 

“I didn’t try to sleep with you.”

“Are you saying Kate did  _ try _ to sleep with me? I knew you would come to that conclusion eventually.”

Tim makes a small frustrated sound and drags his hand down his face. Annoy the McGee: always a fun thing to do. “Do you want to know?”

Tony shrugs. It was about a year ago and whatever it was can’t be as bad as the Kate thing.

“Kate told me you told all the women on the floor below that I was gay.” Okay so it was maybe as bad as the Kate thing. How did he end up having this conversation? All he wanted to do was find out Tim’s book thing.

“This is the only time you will hear me say it but maybe that wasn’t my smartest move.” And it’s an apology, the best way Tony can do.

He can tell by Tim’s face that he’s deciding what to do with it. Tim has been on the team for long enough to look for the words unspoken, Tony knows he has been. Tony  _ hopes _ he has been. He smiles at Tim, trying to make it look as sincere as possible. He was - is - an ass to both Tim and Kate and well, he can accept it - sometimes.

Tim smiles back - apology accepted - but then one of the corners of his mouth starts to tug up. “Don’t worry. I told all the same women that you had herpes.”

“That explains why none of them wanted to give me ‘Glad you got better.’ sex.” Not that Tony tried to sleep with anyone during that hellish month but Tim didn’t need to know that.

Tim laughs and Tony is about 80% sure it's with him not at him. “What did you want me to explain anyways?”

“You write books and Kate draws for them.”

Tim just stares at him. 

“Does Gibbs know?” Because asking that is easier than asking why didn’t they tell him.

“Yes.” Tony steps away from Tim and leans against the opposite wall in the hallway they’re still standing in. “We didn’t mean to exclude you.”

“We?” If Ducky and Abby also know then Tony doesn’t know what he’ll do - properly pretend this conversation never happened.

“Just me, Kate and Gibbs. Well also my publisher but she doesn’t count.” Okay so not everyone knows but everyone on the team knows. “Gibbs only knows because Kate had read my first draft and was worried the case details were too similar. She stole it from my apartment and asked him to read it. He made me change half the story, and also how I described your character so I’m also sorry for that.”

“My character?”

“The characters are roughly based on the team -”

“I gathered that from  _ L.J Tibbs _ , really McGeek that’s the best you could do.”

“I focused on the story more than names.”

“What was wrong with my character?” He’s guessing if Gibbs had to ask Tim to change it, it can’t be good.

“So I started writing the books just after I joined the team. I got the idea while on a case and the case, it wasn’t great. The Jamieson case from two years ago, remember, the body had been torn apart by coyotes and then thrown in a lake. You and Kate - but especially you - spent the entire time laughing at me and joking because I couldn’t handle the sight of the body. I was really, really pissed at you guys but I couldn’t say anything - we work together and Abby loves the both of you so complaining to her was out of the question.”

“Why did Gibbs only tell you to change mine?” It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where Tim ramble was leaning to.

“Because Kate had already yelled at me for how I wrote her. He figured that he can just yell at me for your benefit.”

“Did it work?”

“It's Gibbs yelling, of course it worked. Honestly It’s a good thing, Agent Tommy is much better now.”

“Tommy? Like me guess, Kate is called Cath?” Tony asks because mocking Tim is easier than asking him why he included a character based on him. Yes, it sounded like the character was properly the devil in disguise at first but Gibbs clearly put that to rest. Including Tony in a book at the team means that Tim actually accepts the fact that Tony is on the team. And it’s at this point that Tony thinks he’s going insane - he is not that insecure - of course Tim knows Tony’s on the team and the SFA.

“Catherine Tate protected the president the way she should've protected her heart.”

Tony laughs, his head leaning back against the wall. “She tried to kill you for that, didn't she?”

  
  


“Yep but I wrote Cath with winning a medal all while having a good looking boyfriend on her arm, so Kate forgave me.”

“‘Good looking boyfriend’? You sure there wasn’t any truth to my rumours?”

“Was there any truth to mine?”

“And the Probie is learning to talk back.” Then Tony asks, ”Kate’s drawing for the cover of your book then?” Because he still hasn’t got a direct answer to that.

“Kind of.” Tim starts pacing back and forth and Tony has to pull his feet in closer to the wall so Tim doesn’t trip on them.

“Kind of?”

“So Gibbs doesn't know about this part, only Kate and that’s because she was to suggest the idea in the first place” Tim stops and turns to face him. His eyes won’t meet Tony’s and he has a nervous smile on. “My book is being turned into a graphic novel.”

“That's like a comic book right?” He was expecting Tim’s face to drop but instead his smile becomes more sure and his cheeks turn a light pink.

Tim’s hands start moving, gesturing nonsense, and he starts to explain the difference of how comic books are different from graphic novels. Not once does his voice turn mocking or to his ‘Tony, really how don’t you know this’ tone so Tony stays leaning and he listens. He nods and smiles when he understands Tim’s point and whenever he asks a question (despite the quiet volume he’s using) Tim answers. The conversation starts to turn towards comics Tim has read and then he adds Tony even more into conversation by asking him about the movie adaptions. It's the first time since probably that hellish month that him and Tim have a conversation about something other than work that's lasted more than two minutes and without them insulting each other.

Tony’s comparisons of the Batman films come to end when Stevens from HR passes through the hallway, having to politely ask both him and Tim to step aside since they’re standing in the middle.

It's on the way back to the bullpen that Tim asks “Do you want to read the book, since both Gibbs and Kate have read it?”

“It’s published isn’t it? I’ll grab a copy on the way home or something.” He’s pretty sure there's a bookstore around the block from his apartment.

“I have one in my desk.”

“Arrogant much?”

“It’s for you.”

“I forgot you were even an author until today.”

“I never gave it to you because I assume you would make fun of me. Do you want it or not?”

“Of course I do. I need to know what Agent Tommy is like.” And how (ever slightly) Tim views Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

* * *

It’s a couple of days later and Tony's is filling out travel expense forms. Tim is tapping away on his computer and Gibbs is up in some meeting with the new director. Kate had taken out her sketchbook about ten minutes ago after she finished her report.

She keeps looking over at Tony and he keeps pretending he doesn’t notice her.

This time she stays staring at him for longer than a couple of seconds and tilts her head. He his eyes on his computer and the numbers he’s filling in and he says, “McGee, don’t you think Agent Tommy would look so much cooler with a pair of black sunglasses.”

“Personally, I wish I wrote him with streaks of green in his hair.” At that he does look away from his spreadsheet of miles and dollars to give Tim a ‘What the fuck?’ look. “What? it would make him more interesting.”

Tony just shakes his head and him. 

“No green streaks but he does have sunglasses on.” Kate holds up her sketchbook which has a drawing of him (Agent Tommy) with a pair of sunglasses on and flashing his Id to presumably a suspect. Tony smiles at her and she sends a wary one back. 

He may not be a part of the creative art side of his team but he at least knows what that side is up to now. That’s all he wants anyway.


End file.
